7. The Path of the Physical Body
Chapter 7: The Path of the Physical Body
In the Changchun Courtyard.
He Jianlan, poised and dignified, sat on the smoothly polished golden nanmu grandmaster's chair, listening to the trembling report of a young servant before her. She was slightly moved.
She had heard that the child was precocious, very clever, but unfortunately lacking in martial arts talent, wasting all that intelligence.
Thinking of the letter from the frontier, He Jianlan sighed inwardly and said faintly, "Xuejian, keep an eye on that child. Just make sure he doesn't tear up the books."
"Yes."
Beside her, a woman with almond-shaped eyes, red lips, and fair skin answered softly.
...
The directive from the Changchun Courtyard was conveyed to the exterior of the Listening Rain Pavilion. Li Hao was a bit surprised to see the young girl who had come to supervise him, but he didn't mind. After all, he was too young, and it was normal for the First Lady not to be at ease with him entering the pavilion alone.
Though both were servants, Zhao Bo's status was clearly lower than that of this girl named Xuejian, who had blocked him outside the pavilion.
Inside the old building, the lighting was somewhat dim, and a layer of dust covered the floor.
Bookshelves lined the building, towering and massive. Li Hao walked and looked around; the sides of these bookshelves had wooden plaques, categorizing them.
There were sword techniques, saber techniques, spear techniques, weapons, poisons, and more.
The variety of books was vast, almost all-encompassing.
Li Hao couldn't help but marvel.
This little building practically contained half of the martial world.
Before long, Li Hao found the shelf containing body refinement manuals, densely packed with various hard-body techniques.
Diamond Art, Nine Changes of the Divine Turtle, Seven-Star Seal, and so on.
Li Hao casually took down a manual titled Hundred Refinements of Stone Skin, leaning against the bookshelf to read.
The building was extremely quiet, with only two breathing sounds, one big and one small.
Xuejian followed quietly like a shadow behind Li Hao, her demeanor more refined than that of a typical noble lady. She looked at the young master, who had been the center of attention since birth, with a hint of curiosity in her eyes.
He really seemed precocious, as if he could read.
And he was so engrossed—could he really understand?
Time passed.
Li Hao repeatedly read the initial pages of the manual, comprehending word by word. Finally, after an unknown period, he was delighted to see a message appear:
"Basic knowledge learned, would you like to record it?"
Li Hao directly chose yes.
Soon, the panel appeared before him.
[Name: Li Hao]
[Age: 4]
[Cultivation: Mortal]
[Swordsmanship: Second Dan]
[Skill: Tides of the Boundless Sea (Perfection) [Sealed]]
[Physical Body Path: Uninitiated]
[Skill: Hundred Refinements of Stone Skin (Uninitiated) [Sealed]]
[Chess: Second Dan (18/1000)]
[Chess Manual Collection: 0]
[Art Skill Points: 0]
Seeing the successful recording, Li Hao was a bit surprised. His guess was correct; he could officially begin his cultivation.
But before that, he needed to accumulate new art skill points.
Thinking of this, Li Hao frowned again.
He could quickly gain experience on his own, but playing against others was much slower.
In three days, he had only accumulated 18 experience points, and his helper had already run away.
He needed to find a reliable helper... Li Hao thought to himself, placing the manual back on the shelf and turning to the young girl behind him to ask, "Which floor has the best body refinement manuals?"
Xuejian was slightly surprised; this child actually understood body refinement? Who taught him?
Could it be that military officer who tried to establish his foundation?
His meridians are blocked, so he wants to pursue pure body refinement... Xuejian's eyes showed a flash of understanding, and she replied softly, "Young master, the strongest body refinement manual recorded in the Listening Rain Pavilion is on the sixth floor. Let me take you there."
"Not on the seventh floor?"
Li Hao felt a bit disappointed. "Strongest should mean unique, right?"
"Because one is complete and can be practiced, while the other is a fragment. It can be practiced but not to the peak," Xuejian explained.
Li Hao was somewhat surprised—a fragment could enter the sixth floor? Soon, led by the young girl, Li Hao was carried to the sixth floor.
He had barely managed to reach the third floor on his own.
The higher up, the fewer manuals there were. By the sixth floor, only a few short bookshelves remained, roughly housing about twenty or thirty manuals.
However, Li Hao didn't underestimate this number. With the Li family's thousand-year accumulation, these twenty or thirty books were probably priceless treasures outside.
Soon, Xuejian brought the two body refinement manuals she had mentioned to Li Hao.
One was titled Thousand Dragon Sacred Body.
The other was Primeval.
The covers were somewhat worn and old, the kind that would likely be used as makeshift table legs in an ordinary household.
Li Hao took them and began to flip through them one by one.
Even the opening passages of the manuals revealed a vast difference from what he had seen on the first floor.
He... couldn't understand it at all.
The words were incredibly obscure, like reading classical Chinese or even oracle bone script. Recognizing a few characters was hard enough, but putting them together, he couldn't understand a thing.
Li Hao's small face scrunched up.
He forced himself to continue reading for a while before decisively giving up.
It was nearly impossible to even reach a basic understanding.
"When I watched that kid practice the sword, I had to watch for several days before I could record Tides of the Boundless Sea, and that was from observing someone practice. This is self-study..."
Li Hao shook his head, deciding to wait until he accumulated art skill points to enhance his Physical Body Path before trying again.
He let Xuejian carry him downstairs.
Although he wanted to learn other types of manuals, he clearly didn't have the energy to do so at the moment.
Without art skill points, everything was futile. The problem returned to needing a helper.
After leaving the Listening Rain Pavilion, Li Hao bid farewell to the well-mannered young girl and returned to the Mountain and River Courtyard with Zhao Bo.
"Hao-gege."
Seeing Li Hao return, Bian Ruxue ran over, almost tripping over her small feet.
"Don't rush, don't rush," Li Hao quickly said.
"Where did Hao-gege go? Can you take me with you next time?" Bian Ruxue pouted, looking at him eagerly.
Over the past year, the little girl had grown attached to Li Hao, even bringing her pillow to his room to sleep, refusing to go to bed without him.
At first, Li Hao sent her away several times, but after she woke up crying in the middle of the night and came to him with tearful eyes, he couldn't bring himself to send her away anymore.
Luckily, the bed was big, and he was small, so having her sleep there wasn't too much trouble. The little girl was also quiet and didn't disturb him, so he let her stay.
"You have to behave. I'll always come back no matter where I go." Li Hao patted her head.
The servants around were used to this scene and were not surprised.
"Pinky swear."
Bian Ruxue held out her little hand.
Li Hao sighed and made a pinky promise with her.
"No take-backs. You said it. Whoever breaks it is a puppy." Bian Ruxue pouted slightly.
"Okay, okay," Li Hao replied helplessly.
...
In the days that followed, Li Hao was determined to display his chess talent, forcibly demanding the servants and maids play chess with him.
Anyone who refused would have Zhao Bo give them three hard smacks.
Three smacks wouldn't break the skin, but it was enough to keep their butts off chairs for half a day.
Under the young master's tyranny, the servants and maids had no choice but to take turns playing with him.
As time passed.
The courtyard presented two scenes: on one side, Lin Haixia taught Bian Ruxue simple sword and hand techniques.
This wasn't formal training, just practicing stances and getting a feel for martial arts.
The process was occasionally painful, but the little girl was stubborn and never cried over it.
On the other side, the atmosphere was lively.
A group of servants gathered in the pavilion, with Li Hao playing chess with one of them, while the others were ordered to learn from the side.
Among the servants, some knew nothing about chess, while others had picked up a bit from somewhere. Li Hao found that playing against those with some skill gave him 2 points of experience for a win, sometimes even 3!
Conversely, playing against those who knew nothing only gave him 1 point of experience, even if he won.
If the opponent accidentally placed a piece illegally, the entire game was void.
Gradually, the servants didn't need to take turns anymore. Li Hao found the two best chess players among them to grind experience with him every day.
In the blink of an eye, Li Hao turned five years old.